Daily Lessons from Life 11 February 2010

"Thu, Feb 11, 2010 AsiaOne - S'pore requests return of Romanian diplomat

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has handed the Romanian Ambassador to Singapore a diplomatic note seeking the Romanian Embassy's assistance in requesting Dr Silviu Ionescu to return to Singapore to attend the Coroner's Inquiry.

Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has noted that in Romanian media reports, Dr Ionescu still maintained that the car had been stolen and that he was not the driver at the time of the two accidents.


He also claimed in a recent Romanian TV interview that there was a witness who could exonerate him.

Dr Ionescu has also alleged that this was a case of a 'set-up' by the Singapore Government because he had been reporting on political activities in Singapore."

This case which captured the imagination of Singaporeans and people in Singapore has taken a dramatic twist with Dr. Ionescu's allegation on Romanian TV media! If the facts presented by the MFA of Singapore are true, Dr. Ionescu is trapped in the classic downward spiral of 'telling more lies to cover the initial lie' until he is so deep into the piles of lies that he could not possible extract himself from definite ruin of his own integrity and credibility and as a decent human being!

Lessons for me are:

1. diplomats are still human being. Diplomatic immunity can be lifted if the country involved is interesting to finding out about the truth and let justice be served;

2. very educated and qualified person, like this Dr. Ionescu, will sink to the deepest depth of irrational and strange behaviors just to save one's own skin; assuming the facts are: he told lie after lie to clear himself of 'drinking under the influence of alcohol', 'hit and run without giving assistance to the injured leading to one of the injured death', etc. How ugly and incomprehensible human being can be to fight for survival! Totally brutal!!;

3. as this case involved a foreign nation, in this case, Romania, it will be interesting to see how the Romanian authority will respond to the requests by MFA Singapore. It will tell how the country view such issues like: integrity and responsibility, justice for all, etc. It is a rare test for Singapore MFA to have to confront this case. While Singapore's standard position has been to be friendly to all friendly or non-hostile nations, its citizens are expecting 'justice be served', it will need the Romanian authority to cooperate. If this failed, the citizens will be disappointed. A no-win situation if you like.

May justice be served and may Dr. Ionescu get a fair trial with all the legal avenues and resources made available to him by Singapore and his government to prove his innocence. And in the process, rebuild his dignity instead of fighting like a demonic man making false accusation and telling more lies!!